Nepeta cataria L. var. &#34;Thaya&#34;

ABSTRACT

A new and distinct hardy perennial Catmint plant,  Nepeta  “Thaya” characterized at least by high oil yield.

Field of the Invention

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a new and distinct formof catmint (Nepeta cataria L.), useful in the production of essentialoil.

Background

The catmint (catnip) plant Nepeta cataria L. has historically been usedin tea and herbal remedies, and has long been known for its excitatoryeffect on cats (Family Felidae). The species has thus been grownprimarily for leaf to satisfy these markets.

The oil extracted from Nepeta cataria L. contains a high proportion ofiridoid monoterpenes, particularly nepetalactones, which are the activeconstituents of the oil that contribute to its excitatory effects incats. The oil is also known for its insect repellent properties.Additionally, catmint oil can be used as a raw material for theproduction of dihydronepetalactones, which are also effective insectrepellents. The utility of catmint for most of the aforementioned usesis dependent on the quantity of oil produced. Thus it would bebeneficial to have a catmint plant variety with high oil content. Todate, no isolation or breeding for high oil yielding varieties ofcatmint appears to have been reported.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Nepetacataria, designated, “Thaya”. Nepeta is in the family Lamiaceae. Thisplant was selected by the inventors from commercially available Nepetacataria seed. The cultivar “Thaya” is characterized by high oil yields(up to 0.33% on a dry weight basis) as compared to yields of 0.1-0.2%obtained from a control population. The new variety has been reproducedby asexual propagation (by cuttings). Each of the progeny exhibitsidentical characteristics to the original plant. Asexual propagationshows that the characteristics and distinctions of the cultivar cometrue to form and are established and transmitted through succeedingpropagations.

The present invention has not been evaluated under all possibleenvironmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with changes in theenvironment such as light, temperature, water and nutrient availability,etc. without a change in the genotype of the plant.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEQUENCES

The sequences shown below in Table 1 conform with 37 C.F.R. §1.821-1.825(“Requirements for Patent Applications Containing Nucleotide Sequencesand/or Amino Acid Sequence Disclosures—the Sequence Rules”).

TABLE 1 List of nucleotide sequences of primers, alongwith description as used for Amplified FragmentLength Polymorphism (AFLP) analysis, distinguishing ″Thaya″from other varieties of catmint. SEQ ID NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE DESCRIPTION1 5′ GAC GAT GAG TCC TGA G 3′ Adaptor Primer (Msel) 2 5′TAC TCA GGA CTC AT 3′ Adaptor Primer (Msel) 3 5′CTC GTA GAC TGC GTA CC 3′ Adaptor Primer (HindIII) 4 5′AGC TGG TAC GCA GTC Adaptor Primer TAC 3′ (HindIII) 5 5′GAC TGC GTA CCA GCT TA 3′ Pre-amplification primer (HindIII) 6 5′GAT GAG TCC TGA GTA AA 3′ Pre-amplification primer (Msel) 7 5′CTG CGT ACC AGC TTA GC 3′ Amplification Primer (HindIII) 8 5′TGA GTC CTG AGT AAA GC 3′ Amplification Primer (Msel)

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1a and 1b contains AFLP chromatograms showing the region ofamplified DNA fragments with sizes between 240 and 290 by (base pairs)using SEQ IDs 7 and 8. The chromatograms were derived from processing ofPCR reactions using an Applied Biosystems (Foster City, Calif.) Prism3130XL Genetic Analyzer. The chromatograms were displayed and analyzedusing Peak Scanner software (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, Calif.).Varieties in FIG. 1a are labeled “Thaya” and A, B and C (unrelatedvarieties).

FIG. 2 shows views of the high-oil yielding variety Nepeta cataria var.“Thaya”, wherein Panel A (A) is Leaf, Panel B (B) is flowering spike,Panels C and D (C), (D) are close-ups of flowers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The catmint plant disclosed herein was developed in an effort tocultivate a catmint variety superior in oil content to existingvarieties. Thus, a novel and multi-utility, vigorously growing, robustcatmint plant Nepeta cataria L. var. “Thaya” was selected fromglasshouse-grown populations of accessions of catmint seeds fromcommercial sources.

Plants were grown from 13 seed accessions (20 plants per group).Specific nepetalactone content in leaf material of these plants wasmeasured as an indicator of essential oil content. During sampling, 42plants were identified as having nepetalactone yield higher than theaverage. At flowering, aerial biomass of individual plants washarvested, and the oil was solvent-extracted and analyzed. Percentnepetalactone yield was used as an indicator of essential oil yield, andthe 13 highest yielding plants were selected for further study.

Each of these 13 plants was increased in number using cuttings (asexualpropagation) and transferred to field plots. Plants from replicate fieldplots of each line_were harvested at maturity, and oil was extracted bysteam distillation. The field plots for the cultivar henceforth termed“Thaya” yielded more oil than that of unimproved commercially availableseed in this trial (0.15 vs 0.11%). Some of the retained plants wereallowed to self-fertilize in the glasshouse, and the seed collected wasused to sow field test plots in a subsequent growing season. The plantswere harvested and processed again as described above. Oil yield onsteam distillation was 0.33%.

The unique plant variety obtained as described above has been termed“Thaya”. The variety “Thaya” grows as well as other accessions of thespecies and can be maintained throughout a growing season, and its shootmass can be harvested for distillation or for leaf. For extraction ofoil, the freshly harvested leaves can be dried in the field andsubjected to conventional steam distillation or other methods ofextraction. The composition of the essential oil of “Thaya”, asdetermined by gas chromatograph analysis, is shown in Table 2. For theanalysis, essential oil was isolated from harvested plant material bysteam distillation, and subjected to gas chromatography. The oil ispredominantly composed of nepetalactones, with the most abundantstereoisomer being cis,trans-nepetalactone. A variety description ofcatmint variety “Thaya” is provided in Table 3.

TABLE 2 Composition of essential oil steam distilled from N. catariavar. “Thaya”. Data (constituent, wt %) derives from separate analyses ofdistillations of three field plots planted with clonal plants. Standarderror of the mean (N = 3) is included in parentheses. Oil component Wt %(SEM) cis,trans-nepetalactone 63.407 (6.436) trans,cis-nepetalactone6.85 (3.078) Nepetalic Acid 6.213 (2.568) β-caryophyllene 2.057 (0.082)dihydronepetalactone 0.323 (0.133) cis,cis-nepetalactone 0.31 (0.08)puleganic acid <1.00 germacrene-D <1.00 copaene <1.00 iso-caryophyllene<1.00 iso-caryophyllene oxide <1.00 nepetalic acid 1 <1.00 D-+-camphor<1.00 R-+-limonene <1.00 α-caryophyllene oxide <1.00 cymene <1.00cis-β-Ocimene <1.00 trans-β-Ocimene <1.00 carvone <1.00 α-caryophyllene<1.00 piperitone <1.00

TABLE 3 Variety Description Information for “Thaya” The followingdescription is based on a mature flowering plant of Nepeta ‘Thaya’ grownin glasshouse conditions in MetroMix 360 soil substitute withsupplemental water and fertilizer as needed. Genus Nepeta Speciescataria L. Family Labiatae (Lamiaceae) Common name Catmint, catnipGrowth habit Erect sturdy main stem, profuse branching Plant Height45-90 cm Leaf appearance Light grey-green, triangular-oval, coarselytoothed, bearing simple and glandular trichomes Stem Square incross-section, with hairy surface texture Inflorescence Small labiateflowers, white spotted with purple, in clusters forming a compactflowering spike Fruit/seed Small (ca. 1500/g), dark brown to black.Fragrance Aromatic Oil yield 0.15 to 0.33% of dry weight

The variety “Thaya” is genetically distinct from other accessions ofcatmint as determined by its genomic DNA fingerprint profile generatedby the Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) technique. The AFLPprofile was generated by use of genomic DNA isolated from the leafsamples of “Thaya” plants and three other catmint lines, essentially asdescribed in “Plant Genotyping: the DNA Fingerprinting of Plants” (R. J.Henry, ed., CAB International, 2001) based on the standard procedure ofVos et al in “AFLP: a New Technique for DNA Fingerprinting” (NucleicAcids Research, 23 (21):4407-14, 1995). The sequences used as primers inAFLP to distinguish “Thaya” from other lines are described as SEQ IDs1-8 in Table 1. These include Msel and HindIII adaptor pairs (SEQ IDs 1and 2; SEQ IDs 3 and 4 respectively), pre-amplification (SEQ IDs 5 and6), and amplification (SEQ IDs 7 and 8) primers.

By application of the primer pair described in SEQ IDs 7 and 8, thegenetic profile of variety “Thaya” can be distinguished from three othercatmint lines. In addition, the parental and one of its asexuallyreproduced progeny of variety “Thaya” have the same prominent DNAfingerprinting profile with fragments in the 264 bp region missing(Table 4, FIG. 1b ). This demonstrates that the DNA fingerprint profileof variety “Thaya” is unique and transferred to asexually reproducedprogeny.

TABLE 4 AFLP results of FIG. 1a and 1b, distinguishing “Thaya” fromother catmint varieties. The presence or absence (Yes/No) and number (inparentheses) of fragments in the region of the chromatogram at ca. 264bp are shown for each variety tested. Variety “Thaya”* Variety A VarietyB Variety C No (0) Yes (1) Yes (3-4) Yes (4) *GP and GW1-1 labeled inFIG. 1b

While the plant disclosed herein has been described as it relates to aspecific embodiment, the scope of the present invention is not intendedto be limited thereto, and is intended to cover other variations, usesand adaptations that may arise under different environmental conditions.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new and distinct form of Nepeta cataria L.plant substantially as shown and described.